Turning once again to my old friend Collins English Dictionary, I see that `miracle` is defined as `a word usually used to describe any beneficial event that is physically impossible or impossible to confirm.`   Well I can exclusively reveal that one, if not two, have happened and  been confirmed.  A bit like London buses coming along in pairs.

The first one concerns perennial strugglers Stoke Gabriel, recently amalgamated with Torbay Police and now known as Stoke Gabriel and Torbay Police FC.   The coming together has so far produced a little more encouragement for the Railwaymen of Stoke and things exploded into life on Saturday when SG&TPFC recorded the first victory since their amalgamation with a resounding 3-2 win over Sidmouth Town in the South West Peninsula Premier League East.   Details are sketchy but it seems that our minnow-esque battlers performed doggedly to lift themselves up to 17th spot in the league table and consign Sidmouth to bottom place.   Maybe this is a pivotal moment, a miracle even, or one that might see their hopes fade gently away? - time will tell.

The second concerns Southampton and their trip to Newcastle where another battling performance secured a 2-2 draw with the miracle appearing like an apparition from beyond the unknown.   No, not so much the calm assurance that saw James Ward Prowse slot home the 96th minute penalty or indeed the fact that the Saints had pretty much outplayed their opponents for most of the game.   No, the true nature of the miracle was the awarding of the penalty by VAR !   Something that has never happened to the Saints in the entire history of VARness.   The divine providence handed down from Stockley Park was most welcome.

In other news, my neighbour`s Gillingham were on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat away at Shrewsbury with the game ending in bizarre controversy after Gills` Daniel Phillips was sent  off along with Shrews` David Davis, both of whom having received second yellow cards following a confrontation.  Gills` assistant manager Paul Raynor was  left on the floor after a coming together with Shrews` substitute goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne on the touchline which resulted in both of them being sent off as well to make four dismissals in all.   It`s perhaps a miracle that Gills` rotund manager Steve Evans kept his composure but he was confident that the FA will clear his right-hand man of any wrongdoing when they see the footage.  Not so much the conclusion of a football match, more an over enthusiastic skirmish.

Lastly, Truro City entertained Hartley Wintney (a small village between Reading and Aldershot) but the game ended scoreless at 0-0, whilst Maidstone United maintained their unbeaten run with a `scrappy` 1-0 win at home to Billericay Town.

The international break is now with us - an event that will not trouble most of the teams I follow - but one which will see eight Saints players depart for international duty.  When they return in two weeks time, West Ham will be the visitors to St. Mary`s followed by a trip to the Etihad to play Manchester City away.   If ever another miracle or two were needed but after this weekend miracles are something I might just begin to believe in.

 

There may be trouble ahead.  On Friday evening I watched the T20 quarter final between Kent Spitfires and Birmingham Bears at Canterbury which, thankfully, was televised on Sky.   An enthralling encounter with much riding on it for both sides, especially Birmingham for a win against Kent would have seen them through to Finals Day on their own ground at Edgbaston.

As it turned out, an inspired display by the home side saw Kent through where they will face Sussex Sharks in the semi-final.   But if Kent make it through to the Final, then this is where my divided loyalties might be tested in the event that Hampshire also make it through to the Final following their own semi-final clash with Somerset.  In the summer of 1949 my parents took me to Hampshire`s old ground at Northlands Road in Southampton for my first introduction to the wonderful world of cricket to watch the touring New Zealanders.   Those were memorable days for Hampshire with players like Neville Rogers, Neil McCorkell, Charlie Knott and Leo Harrison and they were followed over the years by Shackleton and Cannings, Jimmy Gray, Roy Marshall, Gordon Greenidge and ultimately the County Championship winning teams under Colin Ingleby-Mckenzie and Richard Gilliatt.

But having lived in Kent for decades and having taken to the agreeable sanctuary of the Canterbury ground I have also gained an affection for the county of the Garden of England and so I enjoyed their victory on Friday evening and the prospect of their big day out at Edgbaston on 18th September.   I suppose in the end it really won`t matter whether Kent or Hampshire are victorious if both reach the Final  - one of `my` teams will have made it through so after all my loyalties, whilst they may remain divided, might not be stretched too much.

However, I faced another test yesterday when two of the football teams I follow were due to face each other in the Highland League game between Fort William and Brechin City.  However, due to an outbreak of Covid-19 within the Fort William ranks, the game was postponed.   The Fort`s press release stated that although the club were disappointed that they were unable to fulfil the fixture, the interests of health and safety were their main priority.   When the game is eventually played, I confess that my loyalties might lean towards the strugglers of Fort William rather than their relatively affluent opponents - The Fort have enough to worry about even without the interventions of Mr. Covid and his package of variants.

 

MIXED EMOTIONS...

  

One of those days when the emotions clash between being happy about some things but troubled by others.   The smiles came on my face late last evening when, after following their progress via TV reports, online updates and a smattering of live coverage, it emerged that Southampton had gone away to South Wales in a League Cup game at Newport County`s Rodney Parade ground and recorded an 8-0 win - the highest away victory in the Saints`136year history. 

 

Then I saw the last knockings of Hampshire Hawks` quarter final T20 cricket game away to Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.  It was one of those nerve fraying endings but one which saw Hampshire winning by just two runs to secure their place in the T20 finals day at Edgbaston. So two good results to be pleased with. 

But while watching the enjoyment of the crowd at the cricket it made me wonder whether the unfolding misery in Kabul or the latest coronavirus statistics that had earlier been released, had ever troubled the minds of those, perhaps myself included, who were much more concerned with the game they were watching.   For all  the enjoyment of winning, I confess that it all felt a bit `unreal.`  Maybe it`s just me but although feeling a bit of discomfort about it perhaps we need these distractions from the `real` world we live in?

And the earlier news of the passing of Don Everly and, this morning, Ted Dexter just adds to the mixed emotions I`m feeling on this grey August morning.   

 CORNISH REBELLION...

My round up of football this last weekend might have to be a bit brief.   But I start by explaining the photo above which I have unashamedly `borrowed` as it demonstrates a heartening attitude by Southampton defender Jack Stephens during the 1-1 draw against the Damned United at St. Mary`s on Sunday.

Now Jack Stephens has been with the Saints for ten years, having joined from Plymouth Argyle for a £150,000 fee.  He was born just over the Tamar at Torpoint in Cornwall.   The photo shows a bit of a contretemps he had with Manchester United`s Bruno Fernandes during Sunday`s game.   Fernandes joined the Village of the Damned in January 2020 from Sporting Lisbon for a fee of £67.6million.  He is a Portuguese international with 61 appearances at various levels for his country, including 34 full internationals, whereas Jack Stevens has a smattering of Under 18s and Under 23 appearances for England.

The `coming together` arose because Stephens had (fairly) won the ball from Fernandes and passed to Che Adams to slot home Southampton`s goal.   Fernandes thought (wrongly) that he had been fouled, made a big enough fuss for the referee to book him for dissent and Stephens rightly showed his opponent what he thought of it all.  A bit of good old fashioned football laced with a touch of Cornish grit is what was needed.

Elsewhere I thought I detected dancing in the street as my neighbour`s Gillingham secured another home win by beating Morecambe 2-1;  Maidstone United travelled to Chelmsford City and also won 2-1;  Truro City made the 500-mile round trip to Walton-on-Thames but could only manage a 1-1 draw.   However, things looked a bit grim in the Highland League where Fort William travelled to Brora Rangers for their `home` fixture but were on the wrong end of an 8-0 drubbing and Brechin City`s visit to Fraserburgh also ended in a 1-0 defeat.  

Sadly, the ultimate minnows of Stoke Gabriel are already propping up the table in the South West Peninsula Premier League East.  They didn`t have a game over the weekend but I see they had a midweek fixture last Tuesday against Newton Abbot Spurs and despite their recent merger with Torbay Police, the Railwaymen succumbed to a 5-1 defeat before an expectant crowd of 67.  Could have been worse though.   

But pride of place this week must surely go to Jack Stephens, so often the fans` scapegoat for his occasional defensive lapses, but on this occasion reaching man-of-the-match status for his inspiring performance in the face of petulant provocation.   `Sir` Alex Ferguson, sitting in the hard lap of St. Mary`s luxury must have been as sick as a parrot.  I`m over the moon, to be fair.

 

THE TIMES THEY ARE A- CHANGIN`..

Well, I guess the jury is in the process of returning its verdict on the first ever `The Hundred.` It will be interesting to see what the cricketing world has made of this new upstart competition that has been gracing our screens for the last few weeks.

A few posts ago (see "A Rumble of Thunder" back on 25 July) I ventured some unease about The Hundred with all its razzmatazz, its quirky rules, its obesity-encouraging sponsorship, which seemed to be the main difference between it and the established T20 format.   There was also the concern I had about its effect on the more `traditional` formats of the county championship and test cricket.

Having now witnessed The Hundred through the admittedly narrow spectrum of television, I still have those concerns but I have to admit to being converted to this new kid on the block. It seems to have brought a different level of `excitement,` drama and personality to a game which in the end is all about which team scores the most runs in order to win it.  It`s franchise cricket of course with all its rampant commercialism and its sense of immediacy.  But maybe in this frantic world, it`s what people want - rather than need - and it unashamedly plays to that demand.   

I guess what helps me come to terms with it all is that the first competition was won yesterday by the catchily named Southern Brave based at Southampton`s Ageas Bowl and led by Hampshire captain James Vince, although the team comprised players from all parts - Sussex had a decent representation but so too did South Africa, New Zealand and all points beyond the south coast.  But it was the pace of it all - helped by the imposition of time limits, the skills displayed, the phenomenal hitting, the inventive bowling, the athletic fielding that stood out, as too did the involvement and active participation of the growing crowds who seemed to genuinely enjoy the occasion. 

I never thought I would see the day when pyrotechnics and whoopy-do `music` would be allowed, not to say tolerated, within the hallowed confines of Lord`s but I suppose it`s a sign that the times really are a changin` and that maybe the success of the first Hundred competition suggests a turning point in the way cricket has to evolve if it is to survive in a sometimes cruelly competitive world.   In the end, if The Hundred and its like manage to contribute towards the upkeep of the more traditional forms of the game then it deserves to be welcomed for what it is and what it can provide in allowing people like me to carry on enjoying my days in the sun at Canterbury.

I nicked a line from Bob Dylan as the heading for this post but I`m also reminded of Neil Sedaka`s lines from `Our last song Together` - a plaintive acceptance that things change and life moves on:-

"Yesterday is yesterday. The past is dead and gone.

Nostalgia just gets in the way. Let`s stop hanging on...."

But for all that, those of my generation will no doubt obstinately hang on to our past which is full of nostalgia, if not longing, for our yesterdays when cricket, like life itself, was so much more straightforward.

 

AN EXERCISE IN RELUCTANCE....

Well, it`s that time of the year again when most of the bills arrive on my doormat.   I suppose if I was better organised they might be spread more evenly across the year but I`m not, so an influx of demands for payment has descended on me, which leads to a difficult time for us elderly pensioners struggling to survive on fixed incomes.  The situation is compounded by the fact that I am the wrong side of the line when it comes to things like income support and effective financial counselling.

So, here we go with my response to this crescendo of demands.   Now, some of them are of course the regularly monthly standing order type things - insurances, Council tax, stuff like that;  I don`t like them and I have more than a tinge of annoyance at having to pay them but I do anyway.   But there are some bills which have arrived to which I might take a more reluctant approach about paying them.  A couple of examples...

First I have received a demand from TV Licensing to renew my TV licence, which is all about funding the BBC of course.  I was intrigued to see that the heading on their letter says, "Renew your license and enjoy another year of great TV."   Really?   Maybe I`ll offer them a deal  - I`ll think about paying it when they stop paying the likes of the boy Linacre £millions a year; stop putting Naga Munchetty on Breakfast TV;  stop wasting money on so many regional and international outlets;  stop assuming that Mrs. Brown`s Boys is even mildly amusing when it`s not; and stop being the left leaning, metrocentric, self righteous outfit that is never wrong and immune to criticism.   OK, I`m still miffed about the broken promise to allow over 75s to have the license free of charge but I think I`m entitled to be.

Next I`ve had yet another bill from Southern Water which amounts to the thick end of £1,000 a year to supply water and then take it away again.  Now this is the company that has recently been fined £91million for serial offences like flushing raw sewage into local rivers and the sea.  And just last week they were at it again when yet more local beaches had to be closed  - all of which makes me sceptical about their announcement that the fines will be paid from their profits and dividends when I suspect their charges will miraculously be increased, purely coincidentally of course. 

Now the thing that really gets me is that both of these organisations give various `pain free` methods to pay their demands, one of which is to pay by post.  But neither of them have the gumption to provide a stamped addressed envelope.  The envelopes they provide are addressed but bear the message `YOU NEED TO USE A STAMP` in nice big letters.   Now given the enormity of their demands you would think that they might encourage payment by at least  doing away with the need to buy a stamp.  OK, there are other ways of paying but I`m going to test their resolve and demonstrate my reluctance by opting to pay by cheque, putting it the envelopes they supply but not putting a stamp on either of them.

Could be interesting.

 

You will have seen from my last post that I was predicting a difficult time of it as a follower of football.   True enough my prediction came to pass in a rather spectacular set of results for the teams I forlornly tend to follow.

The headline says `Business as Usual` and it was certainly that for Southampton, who were 1-0 up at half time but lost 3-1 away at Everton.   Two patterns emerging here already - never winning at Everton and losing a game from a winning position.  It`s like last season all over again. (Perhaps things will improve, he hopes, after yet another pig flies over his roof.)

So let`s see if things got any better elsewhere.  Not really - business as usual at Fort William who are playing all of their games in the Highland League away from home as Claggan Park is unfit for purpose this season.  They have played four league games so far, losing all four but yesterday`s narrow 3-2 defeat to high(ish) flying Forres Mechanics was an improvement on the heavy defeats normally inflicted on the Fort.   As a result, they are not bottom of the league table;  OK, next to bottom only alphabetically as Turriff United starts with a `T`, but it is slightly encouraging.  

My neighbour`s Gillingham made a difficult journey in the circumstances to Plymouth yesterday and perhaps diplomatically lost by the only goal of the game, the final score being 1-0, to quote David Coleman.   My neighbour tells me that Gills` rotund manager Steve Evans has already been booked in one game and sent off in the next one so maybe diplomacy ensured that he was on his best behaviour at Home Park yesterday.

Heading further west, Truro City`s hopes of a good start to their season in the National League South failed to materialise as they were soundly beaten 4-0 by visiting Hendon.   But better news for the ultimate minnows of Stoke Gabriel in the South West Peninsula League Premier Division East.   They have taken the drastic step of combining forces with Torbay Police FC to become, err...Stoke Gabriel and Torbay Police FC.   A case of `if you can`t beat `em, nick `em` perhaps.   They lost their opening game 6-0, they lost 3-0 yesterday to Honiton Town but in between lost by the narrowest of margins 3-2 to top six side Bovey Tracy - an arresting performance I suspect.  Business as usual or the early signs of green shoots?

So, defeats all round yesterday but the party partly pooped by Maidstone United winning their first league game 3-0 at home to Hemel Hempstead and Brechin City making an impressive start to their time in the Highland League with three wins followed by a draw yesterday against  Rothes.   The hedge at Glebe Park looks immaculate.

A typical start to the season then - business as usual indeed.

 

Well, I think it already has to be fair.  I suppose it always has been a mad world ever since Adam chewed on an apple and over the course of history the degree of madness has come and gone, but never seems to go away. 

Today on this bright, sunny August morning here in the backwaters of deepest Kent it`s almost as if we are living in a world of our own, which doesn`t seem all that mad.   But look outside, beyond the boundaries of our insular contentment and what do we find?  Things like the ongoing madness of Afghanistan; the insanity by which the good folk of Plymouth have suffered the most appalling and horrifying gun attack seen in this country for a decade;  the ongoing Covid pandemic which sees the infection rates and death toll continuing to rise;  the record temperatures and fires engulfing southern Europe and parts of California and the misery that they bring;  the seemingly endless stream of illegal migrants entering this country (over 500 yesterday alone) and the subsequently worrying effects that it entails for all concerned, not least the migrants themselves.   The list goes on and on.

But there`s a different kind of madness, one in an area of life which ironically seeks to provide a form of escape from all the rest of life`s insanity.   It is, of course, the world of sport and again on this morning of tranquil calm I am facing the prospect of being swept up yet again in the utter madness of being a football fan;  well, a Southampton fan at least.  Today the Saints go away to Everton, so difficult a place to go to that we have not won there since the invention of Dubbin and Sloan`s liniment.   I expect we will get mullered again today and that will once more spark off feelings of doom laden despondency among the St. Mary`s faithful.

There is so much else in  the world to be concerned about, to be worried about, that it strikes me as almost the ultimate madness to be concerned about eleven men running around a field trying to stick a ball in the back of a net more times than their opponents.  Now  if you support Manchester City, The Damned United, Chelsea, Liverpool you only have to worry whether you are going to win the league or not;   if you`re a Saints fan, you just worry.   Or you`re just as mad as the rest of the world.

 

OK, time for yet another bit of self indulgence so if you don`t fancy it, time to look away now.

Turned on the news this morning and, like most other mornings, it`s full of people complaining about something, arguing with each other, disagreements everywhere.   Now maybe there is enough bad stuff going on in the world to warrant complaints and arguments all the time but it all gets a bit much at times.

 I think it was Neil Finn of Crowded House who wrote, "...and the papers today, tales of war and of waste, so you turn right over to the tv page."  So, when I feel the need to take a break from it all, rather than turning to the tv page, I turn once more to music - if music be the food of peace and comfort as well as love, play on.

So, ploughing through my wide ranging `collection` of music I quite often seek peace and comfort in Sir Edward Elgar`s Enigma Variations and especially the version of `Nimrod,` which has been adapted (probably the wrong word) as choral music. It reminds me that wonderful music can do wonderful things.   Here it is sung by a gifted eight piece combo  - have a listen and I hope you will agree that the music is seriously inspiring........

Latin text Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

English translation Let perpetual light shine upon them, O Lord, with your saints for ever, for you are merciful. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

 

It`s not a word I like to use.  Among its many and varied definitions one finds things like `irritatingly pleased with oneself;`  the kind of definition that fits certain people, especially politicians like Emily Thornbury who has always presented a smug face to the world, notably in Chatham before the last General Election.   So I`ve no desire to appear smug, rather I feel a warm satisfaction at the way our relatively small nation has acquitted itself in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

We have been blessed with a team GB that has come a more than creditable fourth in the medal table behind the megaliths of the USA and China and the host nation Japan and being ahead of the counterfeit ROC, aka Russia, which as a nation had been banned from taking part.   I mentioned a few posts ago that I was warming to the Games after a faltering start but I had a feeling that surely things could not go as well as they had in previous years. 

How wrong was that?   Our medalists, those others who took part in the true spirit of the Olympics, the coaching and backroom staff, the administrators  and everyone else who contributed to that remarkable effort and result all deserve the nation`s thanks and admiration.  No doubt in due time honours will be bestowed on the most deserving as yet more smug politicians will bask in the reflected glory - no doubt Carrie, the de facto eminence grise, will replicate the antics of one of her predecessors when Alastair Campbell gave Alex Ferguson a curiously dubious knighthood.

But if I am verging on being tempted into smugness by our Olympic achievements I surely cannot be compared to that demonstrated by one Guy Verhofstadt, the Member of the European Parliament and arch-critic of Brexit, who suggested last week that the European Union was winning the Olympics and that competitors from the EU should wear the EU flag on their outfits.  He wrote this on Twitter, "The common EU has more gold medals than the US or China.  I would like to see the European Union flag next to the national flag on athletes` clothes.  Our identity is stratified - we are all proud Italians, Latvians, Slovenes....and Europeans.  Our sports people should reflect that."

Despite being wildly deluded, he sounds irritatingly pleased with himself.

 

It`s true, of course.   It`s also the root of all evil. Some say it`s the road to happiness, others that money isn`t everything.....but it helps.

Now, as a Southampton fan since my introduction to the club`s old ground, The Dell, in 1946 I`ve seen countless players come and go - right back to Martin Chivers leaving his home town club and going to Tottenham.  In those days there was a certain sense of home town pride that one of our own had made it to the big city, the big club and the big time.   It may have been similar to when our esteemed academy used to produce players like Gareth Bale, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxtail-Chamberlain and a whole host more but they were not Southampton born and bred - rather they were scouted from elsewhere before being developed and moving on.  At least one of them, Theo Walcott, has had enough in his heart to want to come back to the club and repay some of the debt of his gratitude, but he`s a rare example.

We have just witnessed the subterfuge, the stealth even, by which Danny Ings has left to go to Aston Villa.   It came out of the blue, no hints or suspicion, he just left pretty much overnight in a deal by which Aston Villa will be paying him more money on a longer contract than Southampton were able, rather than prepared, to offer.   Now as a local lad born and raised in the SO postcode area he seemed content enough to return from Liverpool three years ago, go through a rehabilitation to overcome a serious knee injury, become the club`s talisman goal scorer, earning England call ups and settling back with his family in the area he knows so well.

So why move, especially when you already have enough money to make you wonder what you can spend it all on?  It can only be that money talks and Danny couldn`t resist the conversation.   But will he and his family be happy in the West Midlands?  For their sake, I hope so but I do wonder.  Maybe I`m just feeling something of a sense of loss at his leaving.

As part of that process, of course, Jack Grealish has left Aston Villa after 19 years to go to Manchester City.  In some respects his case is similar to that of Danny Ings, but he has issued probably the longest and most heartfelt message of goodbye to the Villa fans ever concocted by a departing player (or his agent.)   It seemed full of uncertainty, full of longing, almost as though he wanted someone to say, "It`s OK, Jack, people will understand."  And well they might, but the real question is, will Jack himself, like Ings and his family, live happily ever after?   Financially of course they will, but, as they say, money isn`t always everything, however loudly it might shout at you.

There`s an old saying but still true - you never find out how good a place is until you leave it.

 

There comes a point when you get things wrong.  It might be down to advancing senility, it might be down to being misinformed or even just misunderstanding.   But I find it hard to escape the notion that sometimes - like now - the rest of the world is going increasingly bonkers and it`s just me that is getting it right.

The latest example is this Covid thing.   Now I know I`ve promised not to write too much about that and I`ve no intention of doing so here and now, but I`m bewildered by the Government`s determination to carry on letting people do pretty much what they like and travel more widely just at the same time as the statistics for the Covid infections are becoming yet more worrying.

Yesterday the number of infections went up again - well over 20.000 again - and that daily figure has been maintained for some time now.   Hospital admissions are on the rise and, perhaps most worrying of all, the death rate is now consistently in treble figures rather than the double or even single figures it was just a few weeks ago.  And they`ve stopped telling us what the R number is.

So, forgive me but I really don`t get the logic, the common sense even, of releasing yet more restrictions and more `freedoms` all the time the daily statistics concerning the pandemic are as high as they are.   We are either being misinformed, I might be misunderstanding but I thought the idea was to contain if not defeat the virus rather than hope it might just go away.  Then again it might just be me?

 

WARMING TO IT...

It`s taken a while for the Tokyo Olympics to get going as far as I`m concerned but I`m beginning to warm to it.   It didn`t help that here in 2021 we`re having the 2020 Olympics.  It didn`t help either that the Games are being held in a rampant pandemic and it also didn`t help that this time there are some unusual competitions making their Olympic debuts to get my head round - things like BMX biking, surfing, stuff like that. 

I wonder how long it will be before we see the entry of barbed wire hurdling and good old fashioned things like three-legged racing and egg and spoon races.   I see golf is included along with football, rugby sevens, handball - all kinds of ball games, but not cricket, the exclusion of which is just not cricket, to be fair.

But the performances of Team GB have so far been encouraging, not to say inspiring especially in swimming and diving.   I hope those and other achievements like those of Max Whitlock in gymnastics,our triathletes and our equestrian teams might spur on our track and field athletes and our cyclists to greater things.  It has been a bit of a worrying start, however, with Dina Asher-Smith succumbing to a hamstring problem and Zharnel Hughes, who did well to make the final of the 100 metres, getting disqualified for a false start.  Seems a real pity that four years of hard graft, training and dedication leading up to a race that might last a bit less than ten seconds has come to nothing for jumping the gun.

But is seems that despite Brexit, climate change and an epidemic of mental health issues our  country is being admirably represented by our Olympians in the most difficult of circumstances;  they are clearly doing their very best and one can ask for no more than that.   

So, I`m off to sharpen up my three-legged technique - might come in handy in Paris in three years time?